About finding statistics and data
Of course, you can find some statistics with a web search. But much of the data you need will be deep within a database file structure, and hidden from search engines.
For better results, search the data sources, directly.
The library links you to the online and print sources purchased by the library and to the data sources often buried within the sites of major statistical organizations (World Bank, IMF, Eurostat, UN, and many more).
- USAID DHS Demographic & Health Surveys"DHS Program surveys cover a wide range of topics including family planning, gender, malaria, nutrition, and more.
See also: Publications by Country - Archived USAID DHS Health Surveys, in DataLumosData Rescue volunteers have archived population-level estimates that were generated from the sample surveys to provide statistics at a country and country-subdivision level, as well as summaries for several demographic categories. See also: DHS Indicators and US Aid Spatial Data Repository
- EIU.com -- Economist Intelligence UnitGo to EIU ViewPoint. Then select Geography. Country Reports provide in-depth analysis and forecasts for an individual country's economy and political situation. The service comprises a regular forecast report (monthly for most countries, quarterly for smaller economies) that provides a point-in-time outlook for issues such as economic growth, economic policy, inflation, exchange rates, political stability and effectiveness, elections and international relations.
- OECD Income Distribution DatabaseGini, poverty, income, Methods and Concepts.
"To benchmark and monitor income inequality and poverty across countries, the OECD relies on a dedicated statistical database: the OECD Income Distribution Database which offers data on levels and trends in Gini coefficients before and after taxes and transfers, average and median household disposable incomes, relative poverty rates and poverty gaps, before and after taxes and transfers, etc." [publisher page]
Please note: Data from this site is migrating to the new platform, OECD Data Explorer. As of April 2024, not all of the information has migrated. Access to the OECD IDD via OECD.stat will be turned off in May 2024. See: Access via OECD Data Explorer. - World Bank Open Data55 databases on a wide variety of financial and social statistics. Includes World Development Indicators, below, International Debt Statistics (formerly Global Development Finance), education, gender and health statistics, a poverty and equity database with statistics for 174 countries, back to 1974, and many more. To browse specific data sources, see: Worldbank Databank.
For more, see Guides to Statistics and Data Sources, below.
Democracy, human rights, and conflict data
- EIU (Economist Intelligence Unit), Democracy IndexNote the publication date, 2023. You will need to provide EIU with your email to receive the index.
- Freedom in the WorldProduced by Freedom House, "Freedom in the World, .... is the standard-setting comparative assessment of global political rights and civil liberties." [publisher]
- The Polity Project VPolity5 Project, Political Regime Characteristics and Transitions, 1800-2018, annual, cross-national, time-series and polity-case formats coding democratic and autocratic "patterns of authority" and regime changes in all independent countries with total population greater than 500,000 in 2018 (167 countries in 2018) (SPSS and Excel data; PDF codebook) Click here for changes made for 2018 annual data update (Excel file). Polity5 refined data covers mainly the period, 1946-2018; data for years 1800-1945 are Polity IV values.
- Varieties of Democracy V-DemDatasets and reports.
Note: The reports include tables and graphs analyzing the datasets. - United Nations, Universal Human Rights IndexSearch by country to see all of the relevant documents for that country.
- ACLED (Armed Conflict Location & Event Data)Scroll down to find analysis by Region and Country.